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Sparta: Kiss My Athens
Company: Playlogic

Fresh from the RTS department comes Ancient Wars: Sparta. We got an early look at Playlogic's 2 year project. Though only about 80% percent is done on the demo campaigns they let us play, there is some clean detail and solid gameplay. They boast a lot of physics in their new custom built engine. There are specific wind effects as to how well you could sail and some fairly complex destruction animations. They are on a good path here. I will have to see how it all comes together in the end for the final product.

Ancient Wars: Sparta is a single player and up to 8 online player game that takes us through much of the well known historical lore from around 500 to 450 BC. You will have the opportunity to play as one of three different tribes from the time: Spartan, Egyptian or Persian. In the demo, we also had a chance to look at their weapon upgrading and unit building aspects of the game. Create different skill sets for your warriors and equip them as you see fit. I was able to get quite a few units up on the screen and see how well it could handle it. I ran out of resources before I could force any lag or slow down. Resource management is handled through gold supply, farming and natural resources. Fighters fight, slaves build, and farmers farm to keep them fed.

Ancient Wars: Sparta is not reinventing the wheel. A lot of what I saw was good refinement to already successful elements, while improving the overall appearance of the RTS. The user interface reminded me very much of the old Starcraft and Warcraft games. I see promise of large scale, multi-unit battles to the scale of the Total War again with an old school Blizzard look and feel.

As I see Ancient Wars: Sparta move toward completion, I would expect nothing short of a well-rounded, complete and solid RTS experience. Storyline, balance and control still hang in the balance as to how this game will fair overall, but I am pleased with the start. I am told to look for Ancient Wars: Sparta late '06, but we can't get much later than now. I would expect to see this game early 2007.


-WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications
AKA Bryon Lloyd
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